Online Personal Branding: The Opportunity You’re Missing

For the purpose of this blog post, I’m going to assume that you already have a vested interest in personal branding. You have social media accounts, maybe a blog and you’ve probably done some research on online personal branding tips already. But your online personal branding is something that can always be improved.

A while ago I decided that I wanted to build my personal brand as a marketing professional so I researched tons of guides for promoting my online personal brand like these ones:

While they were helpful none of them honed in enough for me. A lot of the guides had similar information and tips, but what struck me was that although there are so many methods for building your personal brand there also a lot of little things that can make a big impact.

So that’s what I want to do with this blog post: share with you one little online personal branding opportunity that’s clearly being overlooked- but that can give you a big edge.

What’s The Secret Sauce?

So now that you’re thinking about your own personal brand, let’s talk about something that can give it a unique twist, Branded Links!

When you think about it, we all spend a huge portion of our days online. And every time we click, share or swipe we’re using links. So why aren’t we taking advantage of this opportunity for online personal branding?

You can feature your personal brand every time you share something online whether you’ve written it or it’s an interesting article by somebody else- just by using branded links. Even better, whenever someone else shares one of your links they’re promoting your personal brand. It’s like your very own viral marketing campaign!

In the case of personal branding, your “brand name” is your actual name and then all you need to do is pick a top-level-domain (TLD) that showcases what you’re all about.

For example, if I wanted to establish a personal brand as a lighthearted influencer, comedian or entertainer I could share branded links like IanMatthews.Fun/Show-Dates.

Right before your eyes link shortening services like Google and Bitly have been using this self-promotion method for years. Every time someone uses their link shortening services they get brand exposure so why shouldn’t you be able to do the same with your personal brand?

Think of branded links as your own personal logo online. So while you’re probably not going as far as getting t-shirts printed you can get extra exposure by getting others to promote your brand for you with branded links.

Don’t just shorten your links

Whether you’re trying to establish yourself as a thought leader in a certain field or trying to stand out as a job applicant – this is your opportunity to get the edge on other people trying to promote their brand in the same field.

The great thing about using branded links is that there are so many TLDs available to showcase what this link and by extension, you are all about.

At Rebrandly, we partner with different domain registries to give you tons of choice for the domain you use for your branded links. Radix is one of our partners that has a number of fresh, unique and cool TLDs that you can use for your branded links. Let’s take a look at some of the TLDs they have available.

TLDs For Online Personal Branding

.TECHThe perfect domain for developers, online designers or anyone who considers themselves techy. If you’re trying to establish yourself as an industry thought leader in the tech space or even hunting for a job this TLD is perfect for you.

.FUNThis domain really lets you put thepersonality back into your domain. Comedians, Entertainers, social media influencers and anyone who wants to establish themselves as a fun and cool personal brand could use this domain.

.SITEThe .SITE TLD is perfect for linking people to your personal site. Using .SITE to create a branded link to your website is a great way to impress recruiters and potential new bosses.

.SPACEThis is perfect for your personal space. Whether it’s a space online or a physical space you own like a cafe or restaurant you can create a really cool online personal brand with the .SPACE TLD.

.ONLINEYour entire online presence can be brought together with a .ONLINE domain. Link to your social profiles, previous work and more.

.WEBSITEThis is perfect for anyone who’s self-employed or a freelancer to link someone to your website.

.PRESSIf you’re a blogger or journalist of any kind you can link to your articles with a .PRESS TLD to give you extra credibility in your field.

Okay, I’ve Got My Branded Link, Now What?

Once you started using branded links with an awesome TLD it’s time to start using them in creative ways to promote your personal brand.

Think about all the places you use links and all the places that you link to. Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, your blog, your website, articles written by others. Each of these now becomes an opportunity to promote your brand with each click, share and swipe.

Social Media: First, let’s discuss social media. For each social media message you post, use a branded link like FirstName.online, rather than an ugly long link or generic short URL. Now whenever someone sees this link they’re being exposed to your personal brand. To get most out of effectively growing your personal brand with social media be sure to follow these top tips:

Make sure to only share really interesting and relevant articles. Your goal is for others to share your branded link for you and rapidly increase your brand exposure.

Focus on your particular area of expertise. If your goal is to establish yourself as a thought leader in the fashion space then make sure that’s exactly what people associate with your personal brand.

Be consistent across all of your social media platforms. Each social media platform has its own quirks but using the same bio and profile picture on each platform helps people associate your personal brand with this message.

Create a memorable branded link for each platform so you can share it easily, even verbally! YourName.online/fb, YourName.Online/LinkedIn etc.

Quora: Another great way to promote your personal brand is by using the question and answer platform Quora. By searching for and answering relevant questions you can establish yourself in any industry. Here are my suggestions for using Quora.

Provide valuable answers to relevant questions and include one image and one branded link to further resources. These resources can be something you wrote or something written by someone else but by linking YourName.press to these articles you associate your name and personal brand with this valuable information.

Choose the questions you answer carefully. The goal is to find questions that have a lot of views and not a lot of answers. You can do a simple google search of questions relevant to your industry to find Quora answers that are ranking well and also search in Quora directly.

Join Forums: Find forums relevant to your field and answer others’ questions in them. This not only helps establish you as a thought leader but will also help you grow your following. Each follower you gain increases your brand exposure so remember, the goal is to have others share your links and become ambassadors for your personal brand. Follow these best practices to get the most out of your time in forums.

Don’t be afraid to be controversial. This can be difficult at first but it’s one of the best ways to generate some conversation around your posts and further improve your brand exposure.

Engage with other people’s questions and comments. Use forums as a networking opportunity to find others who can help promote your brand in return for the same.

Stay active. It can take some time to build rapport, so be disciplined in doing this and stay consistent.

These are just a few of the ways that you can use branded links to build your online personal brand. But remember, anytime you share something online you have the opportunity to increase your brand exposure. While it’s important to use all the classic online personal branding methods like writing a blog, showcasing your work and networking, using branded links can give you the unique personal branding edge that so many others are missing out on.